End Notes
Mission Hospital
A poem by Mark Imig, M.D.
Located on Nairobi-Nakuru highway
Matatus outside blaze a dusty trail
Kenyan highlands surround me
Sleeping Masai on the horizon
Lake Elementaita a majestic sight
Pelicans and flamingoes preparing for flight
Traumas, coughs, cancers, and strictures
Patients’ stories live on in pictures
Lab test cost is “food off the table”
Patients hope their condition is treatable
Resources are fewer and patients are sicker
Some receive dawas and others need the theater
Simple meals of bread and work-breaks for chai
Families bring bananas and juice to the bedside
Many get better, walk out on their own
Others depart to an eternal home
Tropical medicine a learning experience
Caring and medicine mixed with Providence.
Mark Imig is in the department of psychiatry and psychology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. He wrote this poem while serving on a Mayo International Health Program rotation in Kenya.